A district court in Oregon, United States, has ruled that children suing the the federal government for their right to a stable climate can now proceed to trial. The plaintiffs, who range in age from 8 to 19, allege that climate change violates their constitutional right to life, liberty and property, as well as the public trust doctrine, which requires the State to protect and maintain natural resources such as coastlines for the public’s benefit. The children, represented by environmental NGO Our Children's Trust, argue that climate change is exacerbated by certain federal government actions such as permitting fossil fuel development and subsidising the fossil fuel industry. They say the government is prioritising short-term profit, convenience, and the concerns of current generations over those of future generations, despite the knowledge they possess of the long-term dangers. Judge Ann Aiken ruled that there is “no doubt that the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society”. The case, Juliana v. United States, will go to trial in 2017.

Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that a law establishing minors’ right to access contraception and education addressing sexual orientation is constitutional. The decision comes after a mother from the state of Aguascalientes claimed the General Law of the Rights of Children and Adolescents violated parental authority and the right of parents to educate their children. She also argued that the law discriminated against children and adolescents on the basis of gender by referring to “sexual preference” and by “unduly” guaranteeing children access to contraception. However, the Supreme Court vindicated the arguments of examining judge Alberto Gelacio Pérez Dayán who pointed out that children choosing their own sexual orientation did not infringe the rights of the plaintiff and that parental authority did not substitute the will and consent of the child. On the issue of contraceptives, children are not obliged to receive or use them against their will, the law simply compels States to guarantee access. Pérez Dayán added that the law does not seek to impose any sexuality on children but simply ensures they have access to quality sex education and establishes affirmative actions for children at risk because of their gender or sexual orientation.

Some 40 million people in Bangladesh - a quarter of the population - are still being exposed to arsenic in their drinking water, decades after the problem was first identified in the 1990s, according to a new study by The Lancet. In some regions of Bangladesh visited by The Lancet this year, more than 90 percent of the population was exposed to arsenic in wells, with children particularly vulnerable to the chemical’s most harmful effects. Experts interviewed both in the scientific community and the government agreed that the problem could be easily fixed, either by filtering the water or getting a new source. However, nobody has been held responsible - neither Bangladesh’s government nor the international institutions that promoted the wells as a source of safe drinking water ever took responsibility to resolve the problem. “It is something that could be addressed in 10–15 years; we have been working on it for 20 years and still a large number of people are exposed and this is really frustrating”, said Kazi Matin Ahmed, the chairman of the Department of Geology at the University of Dhaka.

Turkey has suspended the activities of 370 NGOs, including a number of children’s rights organisations and closed their offices using powers granted under the ongoing State of Emergency. At least three children’s rights NGOs have been targeted including Gündem Çocuk, an organisation which has worked to expose state failings on sexual abuse and violence against children for more than a decade. Defending the measures, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus claimed that the organisations had not been shut down, but suspended because “[t]here is strong evidence that they are linked to terrorist organisations”. The majority of the groups are alleged to have connections to the US based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, or to the Kurdish militant group, the PKK. The government’s move coincides with a visit from the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, who will be holding a press conference to discuss the crackdown on civil society this Friday.

The United Kingdom’s parliament has refused to consider calls to lower the voting age to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in general elections. Constitution Minister, Chris Skidmore rejected a call from opposition MP, Chris Elmore, for the government to consider a recently published report that recommended extending the vote to children to enable them to fully engage in politics. In Scotland, 16 and 17-year-olds are able to vote for members of the Scottish Parliament and Wales is currently considering a bill that may also allow children to vote in Welsh Assembly elections from the age of 16, but the UK parliament has so far refused to consider national legislation. To read more about minimum ages that affect children, including the right to vote, see CRIN’s recent discussion paper: Age is Arbitrary.

Moscow City Court in Russia has ruled that LinkedIn, the world’s largest online professional network, will be blocked in the country. The court found that LinkedIn had failed to meet the requirements of Russia’s personal data law, which requires internet companies to store Russian citizens’ personal information on servers physically located in Russia. Many social media websites have refused to meet this requirement because of the costs and technical difficulties of doing so, but also for fear that it will assist prosecutions against people posting on social media. Civil society organisations have raised concerns about the effect the judgment would have if applied to all other social media networks operating in the country. Article 19, the freedom of expression NGO, has been highly critical of the decision:”[t]he blocking of an entire social media platform for an unlimited period of time inevitably limits legitimate expression and is therefore unlikely to ever be justified.”

Armed conflict

Children in the Iraqi city of Mosul have been used by the so-called Islamic State as suicide bombers and executioners as the group comes under increasing pressure from coalition forces. Troops from the Iraqi army, Kurdish Peshmerga and Shia paramilitary groups pushed deeper into the city this week and gave multiple reports of children being forced to fight, or to kill prisoners taken by IS soldiers. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called the conditions endured by civilians living under IS rule “numbing and intolerable” and delivered a long list of recent rights violations perpetrated by the group. The militants are also reported to be stockpiling chemicals such as sulphur which may be set on fire as primitive chemical weapons, inevitably affecting civilians, and particularly children, most seriously. As fighting rages on, doctors are reporting more and more child casualties from Mosul, with hospitals being “overwhelmed” by the growing number of children brought to them with gunshot or shrapnel wounds, burns and mutilations as a result of the fighting.

A new law has been passed in Chile placing justice for crimes against civilians committed by members of the security forces within the ambit of the civilian justice system. This replaces article 1 of Law No. 20.477 and establishes that “under no circumstances will civilians or children who are victims or offenders be subjected to military courts”. Assistant Secretary for Human Rights, Lorena Fries said “this is the right thing to do and it is a recommendation of international bodies”. Amnesty International has also highlighted crimes against civilians by police, saying the use of the military justice system raises questions about impartiality and independence and fails to safeguard human rights. Ana Piquer, director of Amnesty in Chile, said “A police officer being tried by a military court is like a criminal being tried by members of their family.” In November 2005 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned Chile for prosecuting crimes against civilians in the military justice system in the case Pamara Iribarne v. Chile, ordering the State to change the law.

As many as 1,248 children below the age of 15 are reported to be among the 9,010 people injured as a result of the Indian government’s crackdown on protests in Kashmir according to recently released government figures. These figures include people injured by pellets and bullets fired at protesters as well as 2,436 uncategorised injuries. The use of pump action “pellet guns”, which fire hundreds of small metal pellets or birdshot, has been widely criticised, particularly when used against young unarmed protestors. Children as young as four or five have been reported to have been partially or fully blinded by the use of these weapons and 12 people per day have been admitted for surgery to repair damage to their eyes as a result. Protests in Kashmir have been ongoing since July this year, triggered by the killing of a popular secessionist leader by security forces.

Girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo are joining armed groups in order to obtain food, money or protection, according to a report by Child Soldiers International. Many girls, whose families cannot afford to pay school fees, join militias out of a lack of options and feel too ashamed or afraid of rejection by their communities to return home afterwards. At least 40 armed groups are estimated to be operating in fragile eastern Congo, where militias have been blocking the path to long-term peace by exploiting mineral reserves and local communities. Activists estimate that a third of children in armed groups in the country are girls, who are often married off to militants and exposed to rape and abuse as a result.

Discrimination

India’s Supreme Court has issued directions to courts to fast-track complaints against pre-natal diagnostics in an effort to uphold a 22-year-old law banning foetal sex determination. The verdict followed public interest litigation on the issue of female infanticide, which continues to take a toll on the country’s uneven sex ratio despite legislation which prescribes punishment of up to three years in jail. Citing the constitutional identity of the female child, the Court called for states to maintain centralised birth registration databases, educational media campaigns, periodical judicial training, and the formation of a committee of three judges to oversee pre-natal diagnostic cases.

Legislation to increase the minimum age for marriage to 18 for Muslim girls in Malaysia has been proposed in an effort to improve social protection for children and to curb teenage pregnancy rates. The minimum age of marriage is currently 18 for boys and 16 for girls, although Muslim girls in the country may be married below the age of 16 with the permission of the Islamic courts. Child rights activists have argued that such permission is too easily granted and that the system is often misused by rapists who marry their underage victims in order to avoid imprisonment. The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has also indicated that it intends to further strengthen laws defining rape, setting up a special task force to engage with stakeholders and religious authorities to push for the necessary amendments.

Pregnant girls in Sierra Leone continue to be prohibited from attending mainstream schools and taking exams under a ban promoted by the government last year. The ban was initially justified by the government as an attempt to deal with the country’s high teenage pregnancy rate, which surged during the Ebola crisis. The policy included a “bridging” scheme whereby pregnant girls would attend separate schools with a reduced learning curriculum and provided girls with family planning and health information. While there was the possibility of reintegration into mainstream schooling upon giving birth the stigma surrounding teenage pregnancy has been an obstacle to this. This month will see the bridging scheme replaced by one with a broader focus on girls who have dropped out of school for whatever reason and on interventions to keep girls in school. However, national and international rights groups continue to assert that the discriminatory ban on pregnant girls will not address the problem of teenage pregnancy and instead point to the need to include sexual and reproductive health information in the formal school curriculum.